Hot Spots

by Charles Piot and Anne Allison

We're starting a new forum on the CA website to report on current "hot spots" in the world from the perspective of anthropologists—and others—on the scene. Our first is Japan in the wake of 3.11—the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor incident that has devastated the northeast of the country and infected the entire country (and beyond) with the threat of radiation. We invited David Slater, an anthropologist and professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, to be the guest editor and he has assembled short entries (500 – 700 words) along with images, websites, and statistics from fifteen scholars/activists/students directly involved with the crisis. Our next "hot spot" will be on post-revolution Egypt to be posted sometime in August. We are open to suggestions of all kinds for future "hot spots." Please contact us directly (aaa@duke.edu, cpiot@duke.edu) with proposals that should include the name of a guest editor, theme of the hot spot, and a list of possible contributors.